


Seasons

by lucifernous



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, auguste still dies, they meet as kids!au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-20
Updated: 2016-05-20
Packaged: 2018-06-09 16:47:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6915208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucifernous/pseuds/lucifernous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Only the dead have seen the end of war." -Plato</p>
<p>A study about what would have happened if the princes have met each other before war. And the inevitability of love and death in their lives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seasons

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Handsabroad](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Handsabroad/gifts).



**I.**

 

It is spring when they meet

and Laurent can’t possibly know what it means

the warmth that surrounds him and settles in him

when he sees the boy smile for the first time,

all broad shoulders and golden skin.

 

It’s summer and Laurent feels bolder enough to try and talk to him,

the boy doesn’t disappoint, treating him like an equal,

never shying away from a topic unlike some grown-ups do.

They spend a whole afternoon talking about Auguste,

he likes the boy even more for that.

 

It’s summer again. Many summers have passed

and Laurent has learned to school his expressions,

to blame the heat of the day for his flushed cheeks

while watching his brother and Damen spar.

Auguste hair is blonde and his eyes blue as a clear sky,

He is the Sun

and he can't bring himself to hate Damen for being blinded by him.

 

It is spring when he goes to Auguste's tent to beg him not go,

to avoid the bloodshed,

_'he is your friend, is he not?_

_And you both mean the world to me!'_

 

That’s not the reason Auguste loses,

but Laurent has a whole life ahead of him to feel guilty.

 

Laurent will not make the same mistake twice.

 

In Akielos a war is won and Damen is received victorious.

It is still summer and the sky is clear in Ios

but Damen feels cold to the bones

and the world is too loud and too bright when it shouldn't be.

He lost,

he lost.

(He loses more than he thinks that spring.)

 

**II.**

 

Many seasons come and go for both princes.

Laurent learns that kindness sometimes hurts,

that love can be handled as a weapon

and a caress can leave wounds deeper than a blade.

 

Damen learns to forget,

he trains,

he learns from his father what it is to become a king,

he also goes hunting,

he goes partying and drinking.

He asks the slave master

to never again bring him pale, blue-eyed bed slaves.

It nearly almost works.

 

(He still doesn't heeds Nikandro's warnings,

He has lost so much,

He can bear to lose nothing else.

This is one of the times denial doesn't work.)

 

He receives help from the least unexpected place.

The Regent of Vere offers him asylum if he can reach Ravenel.

 

Two days before the rendezvous

a man called Orlant comes to his camp with the Prince's ring.

_'If you want to live you will come with me.'_

 

Despite his logic telling him it could be a trap he goes.

With only a promise of what are faded memories now.

(Of a boy with kind eyes and a tender nature.)

 

What he finds in Aquitart is a man

who's use of words is as deathly as a sword

and who is an army by himself.

There is not a glimpse of the softness he remembers there.

 

Laurent will try in vain to remain cold,

_('he forgot about you you should do the same._

_He took away the most important thing,_

_he doesn't deserve your help.')_

Emotions do not rule Laurent anymore,

so he plans and tells Damen what he wants.

_'Delfour for your throne, Damianos.'_

 

It is a brilliant plan and Damen can't say no.

With time, Damen will learn the story he doesn't know

Akielos won, Vere lost.

And a scared boy was taken under his uncle's wing.

And Laurent is the same,

but he isn't.

The men speak of the frigid prince,

the ruthless viper.

A man will look Damen in the eyes and tell him,

_'You were supposed to be his friend,'_

_'It was an order from my father--'_

_'I was not talking about the former crown prince.'_

He will stop asking questions that day.

 

**III.**

 

As the war advances,

Damen gets to know more about the Crown Prince.

With sleepless nights going through strategies

pouring his knowledge of war to attentive ears.

_‘My uncle has planned an ambush for me.’_

The implication leaves him speechless,

As does the bitter smile in the prince lips.

_‘This is not the first assassination attempt I’ve had to face,’_

_‘But hes your uncle…’_

_‘Your own brother betrayed you Damianos.’_

_‘I thought he loved you,’_

Laurent’s face remains impassive.

_‘That didn’t saved my brother, why should it be any different for me.’_

Damen is the best with a sword, his tactical skill matched by none.

But with Laurent he’s always, always losing.

 

(Later Damen will think to himself,

_‘it will be different because you won’t be alone.’_

Is a promise he’s still not brave enough to voice.)

 

They keep fighting and they keep winning,

Damen can sometimes see Auguste in Laurent,

when he’s supervising formation of his army

when he’s talking to his men and some warmth settles in his blue eyes.

But he realizes that even in Laurent youthfulness and inexperience

he shines brighter than Auguste ever did.

With his sharp angles and casual elegance,

The way he can destroy a man without lifting a single finger

And yet, he chooses kindness when treating slaves and men under his command.

When talking to the people from the villages in their path.

 

Damen gets drunk when he can’t take it anymore,

_‘I've wronged you beyond forgiveness,_

_all I have is my life to give so take your revenge.’_

 

Laurent is as beautiful and brilliant as ever,

_‘You have no right to give your life away._

_You are a King, there are people that are counting on your return,_

_But if you want to give me your life. I take it._

_And don't you dare on wasting it on my or my brother's behalf._

_Make it worth what you are offering._

_This is the prize you must pay until the day you die Damianos.’_

 

(Damen is on his knees,

but for the first time in years he feels a weight lifted from his shoulders.

It feels right to belong to this man.

And he will give all that is his to give and hope that it will be enough.)

**Author's Note:**

> So im trying to do poetry now and this came up. Hope you liked it!


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